Dear friends,
Independence Day (May 12 this year) marked Israel's 57th birthday. This milestone brings to mind the immense transitions we are living––in the world, in Israel, and here at Neot Kedumim. We can communicate instantaneously with our friends around the world––as this, our first electronic newsletter, exemplifies. Communication with our closest neighbors here in the Middle East, though slower and infinitely more complex than computer technology, is also, we hope and pray, progressing. The cessation of bloodshed that will with God's help come will further open our doors to the world.

Neot Kedumim was created by people of vision who saw the need to reunite us, after two thousand years of separation, with the landscapes of Israel, with the natural phenomena that are inseparable from the Bible and its vast tradition.

Until recently, the development of Neot Kedumim was largely funded by the government of Israel. In recent years, as many of you know, defence demands have forced the government to change its priorities, and support for NK was cut to the point that endangered our existence.

For many years, most of our work was directed toward Israelis, especially schoolchildren. To our joy, the proportion of visitors from abroad, now returning after the more than four years of the intifada, has steadily grown. In a profound way, Neot Kedumim belongs not just to Israel, and not just to Am Yisrael, but to all those who read and love the Bible around the world.

It is this sense of partnership that Paula Tobenfeld, the new president of American Friends of Neot Kedumim, is promoting through her educational and organizational work.Our boundless gratitude to Paula for her creativity, energy, and devotion, and to her wonderful team--her husband Howie Entin, Secretary-Treasurer of AFNK; Administrator Hope Dispigno; and the AFNK board.

We have just celebrated Pesach, the holiday of the first ripening of the barley, in Israel. Soon we will celebrate Shavuot, the holiday of the grain harvest. For all of us, the bond with this land, its cycles and seasons, is eternal.

It is in this spirit that we look forward to continued partnership in maintaining and developing Neot Kedumim, for all of us and for future generations.

With warmest wishes,
Shlomo Teitelbaum
Director, Neot Kedumim